Real skinny on A/C drain!

ChanW

Slinger, eh? Fascinating. I love learning new stuff.

Just a word of caution if you're planning on pulling out the AC unit... When I pulled ours out (2014 model), it turned out it was actually sealed in there with that aluminum tape that's used for duct work. 

Using this metal tape, the factory had created a baffle system on the outside grill work to help direct and separate the cool incoming air from the warm outgoing air. 

Me pulling the AC unit into the Tab ripped the tape, making it necessary for me to redo it all when I reinstalled the AC.

ScottG

Good info--I wondered what I might break when I started tugging on the AC. Thanks for the heads up, Chan.

ChanW

The factory has addressed the hot-air/cold-air mixing problem since then, however, so it might be different on the later models.

The best way to figure it out is to pull the outside grill off and look in there.

jkjenn

ChanW said:

Slinger, eh? Fascinating. I love learning new stuff.

Just a word of caution if you're planning on pulling out the AC unit... When I pulled ours out (2014 model), it turned out it was actually sealed in there with that aluminum tape that's used for duct work. 

Using this metal tape, the factory had created a baffle system on the outside grill work to help direct and separate the cool incoming air from the warm outgoing air. 

Me pulling the AC unit into the Tab ripped the tape, making it necessary for me to redo it all when I reinstalled the AC.

Chan did you install the fan? Maybe the baffling worked as well as the fan but the fan was easier to install for the factory? I bet mine has the baffling, too. I think they started putting the a/c fans in right after mine was made. If I remember correctly, our T@bs are very similar in age.

ChanW

No, I don't have the fan. We haven't used the AC enough to care (we'd have to be pretty desperate to turn it on at all). 

The thing that worked best for me with the AC problem was extending the baffles to outside the grill, to get the hot air completely away from the cold air intake.

My method's not a very user-friendly system though.

JustJohn

ScottG said:

You guys are freakin' me out--I'm never touching that 

What he said!

ScottG

Unlike Jenn's, my 2015 M@x-S has the a/c ventilation fan. I don't know about the baffling, but I do see some of that aluminum tape stuff through the exterior grill, so it's a distinct possibility. Either way, it doesn't sound like gulfarea encountered it in the 2016.

I'll update when/if I actually pull the unit. Unless and until I venture to more southerly climes, I'm really visualizing much better uses for that space! 

Tabaz

I have the fan AND silver taped baffles visible from the outside grill.  Would not want to remove the A/C and have to redo the tape.  Also, if memory serves, when I ran some wires behind the mirror in the bathroom, I recall the drip pan drain being in the center of the pan left to right (if facing the front of the T@B), and at the very front of the pan (front to back of the T@B).  The hose is clear plastic and can be seen in the wall next to the driver's side seat pedestal going into the floor. I can definitely see that same clear hose under the T@B in front of the driver's tire and about a foot towards the center of the trailer.  Therefore, it looks like the A/C drain does not go to the grey tank (at least on mine).